illustration by Mitch Blunt
Aye so, here’s my latest cheeky wee Big Issue books column, reviewing three books:
Headhunters by Ben Shephard – non-fiction about ‘The Search for a Science of the Mind’
The Visitors by Simon Sylvester – a dreamlike debut novel set on a small Scottish island
The Last Tiger by Tony Black – interesting foray into historical fiction from a crime writer
Enjoy!
Dx
illustration by Mitch Blunt
Another column, another glorious illustration by Mitch Blunt. Oh aye, and my reviews in The Big Issue of Nick Harkaway’s Tigerman and Craig Robertson’s The Last Refuge. Both set on islands.
Enjoy! Dx
A handful of interesting press coverage since the last update:
I tackle the Author Confessions over at the Scottish Book Trust, talking about booze, drugs and becoming a gravedigger.
Here’s a big Q&A in The Big Issue in the North, where I talk about Twitter obituaries and the time Dave Grohl bought me a pint.
Over at The Skinny Bram E. Gieben gives the book four stars, bandying the word ‘superior’ around willy-nilly. Cheers!
At Crimewarp, the book gets a lovely write up alongside fellow Faber crimesters Stav Sherez and Adam Creed. Go Team Faber!
Not to be outdone, Gone Again gets a great review in Our Book Reviews, courtesy of Maryom, ‘another great read from Doug Johnstone’, no less.
I had a wee bit of downtime recently between writing projects, so I bashed out a few new songs. Recorded and mixed in a few days in the loft in Porty. Here they are over on my bandcamp page. You can download for FREE, or you can pay as much or as little as you want for ’em. Enjoy! And please spread the word.
Thanks, Dx
illustration by Mitch Blunt
In my latest Big Issue column I reviewed Sally Heathcote: Suffragette, the graphic novel by Mary Talbot, Kate Charlesworth and Bryan Talbot, and also Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth. My chatter is here.
Quick heads up, folks, I’m gonna be on The Culture Studio on BBC Radio Scotland with Janice Forsyth today, talking about The Dead Beat. Probably around half three.
Amazon are doing some crime writing promotion, and both the brand new THE DEAD BEAT and HIT & RUN are currently only 99p on kindle.
Likewise, GONE AGAIN is still in some other promotion and is only 59p.
So that’s my latest three books for less than the price of a coffee and a bacon roll. Enjoy!
Here’s the third instalment of lovely press coverage for The Dead Beat:
There’s a terrific review of the book over at Scots Whay Hae courtesy of Ali Braidwood. ‘If there is a more exciting writer around today, they’ve passed me by,’ he says at the end. Oof!
The Lancashire Evening Post get in on the act, Pam Norfolk raving about the novel. ‘There is an almost tangible sense of expectation and excitement to this rollercoaster tale.’
Harriet Devine gives it the once over at Shiny New Books, and declares herself ‘tremendously impressed’. Cheers!
I had a good blether with Yasmin Sulaiman at The List magazine, about death and all that funny stuff.
Mr Hyde, ‘the in-the-know email for the cultured man’ no less, gave the book a wee write-up and advised ‘the cultured man’ to fill his kindle with it. Good advice!
I reviewed this in the Independent on Sunday. It is a terrific book. It’s a slightly misleading title, however. Read my review here.
illustration by Mitch Blunt
Here is my latest column in The Big Issue, with reviews of books by Luke Brown and Mark Z Danielewski, and an all-too-short mention of Peter Ross’s wonderful Daunderlust. All three books are excellent.
Can I also just say, once more, that I LOVE Mitch Blunt’s illustrations for these columns, just so good.
Doug Johnstone 